Coaching The Freedom Of Self-Employment: Tom Volkar

We continue to interview inspiring and successful entrepreneurs here at Yes to Me, and this time, I didn’t have to look far for the perfect interview guest. Tom Volkar, Career Coach from CoreU Coaching and Delightful Work has been a steady commenter at Yes to Me. Just like myself, he helps new and aspiring entrepreneurs to have the business of their dreams. He recently made a community call, which attracted many bloggers. (Photo by leefotos)

1. Tell us a bit about your business and why you started it.

I began my career as a soloprenuer in 1998, first as an inspirational speaker and corporate vision consultant. This was soon after closing an earlier entrepreneurial, entertainment business that resulted in me losing everything, including my home. My marriage of 19 years ended then when I refused to go back to a 23-year career in sales.

Once again, on the trail of pursuing work that I loved, a guy came out of the audience, after a talk I’d given and asked if I’d ever done any coaching. I coached his wife on discovering career fulfillment and found it far more satisfying than speaking; thus my coaching business was born.

I started the speaking business because I valued doing what I loved more than anything. Yet if I hadn’t walked down the corridor of speaking, the coaching door may not have serendipitously opened.

CoreU Coaching was initially a life coaching business where I delivered every kind of coaching imaginable, including: corporate executives, relationship coaching and coaching for supervisors in manufacturing plants. But the clients, who always gave me the greatest thrills, were budding entrepreneurs who were preparing to make the leap to self-employment. So In September 07, I began writing my Delightful Work blog, which is dedicated to that community. I coach, write and create courses and programs to support those who want to be their own boss.

2. What were the three biggest challenges when you were starting off as a new entrepreneur?

My first entrepreneurial enterprise in 1992 was for a brick and mortar business. The challenges were different than for my coaching business. I successfully raised 2.5 million dollars, so it was necessary to get dozens of lenders, investors and vendors to buy into in my vision, since it was never done before. My biggest challenge in that business was in finding and presenting existing business models that gave these supporters confidence.

In my coaching business the challenges were more internal and consisted of trusting myself and working through the underlying fears that developed around the lack of time and money. In chronological order here were my biggest challenges.

1. Not completely following my core values, allowed me to be lured by projects that looked financially promising but were not authentically aligned with who I was.
2. I fought prevailing wisdom to niche myself for far too long because I thought it would limit the work I’d receive and cause me to earn less.
3. I allowed my fear of learning technology to get in the way of my business growth.

3. And how did you work through these challenges?

Values Un-aligned Projects – I worked through this one the hard way, by continuing to say yes to opportunities that looked good but did not turn out well for me. If we beat our heads against the same wall long enough, the pain awakens us. Lesson learned: Not everything works for everyone in the same way. If you have to fight it to work it, the resistance will stop the money from flowing.

Committing to a Niche – After yet another misguided decision in challenge one, I finally said the hell with it and made a sacred vow to commit to marketing myself as an expert only in the area that brings me most alive. That is inspiring and encouraging the leap to the freedom of self-employment. Lesson learned: Committing to one niche does not limit the work we receive. I am still presented with opportunities to coach in other areas. But commitment allows us to approach mastery in the area we care about the most. And mastery leads to greater propsperity in fulfillment and in finances.

Fear of Technology – I worked through this fear using Emotional Freedom Technique and a decision-making technique that I learned in Eckhart Tolle’s, The Power of Now. Essentially I had to release limiting beliefs about my ability to learn technology, while at the same time accepting that the Internet had become an essential component of business building. Lesson Learned: Even though we are more naturally suited to learning some concepts than others. Our resistance is unnaturally created by fear not by original makeup.

4. What is the best part of being an entrepreneur for you?

Total autonomy is the best part of being an entrepreneur. I view employment as mental and emotional slavery. Each of us holds the key to remove our own shackles. Having the total freedom to decide what I work on, the projects I create, the self-determination to work when I feel like working and to work in service to who I most want to serve: that is the liberty of entrepreneurship that I hold most dear.

5. Any advice for people who dream to have their own business and yet find it hard to make the leap?

There are four essential realizations that are required understanding.

1). No one can build your unique business like you can. Your best guess about what that is, is far better than any outside expert’s opinion. Tap the expertise of those who have actually been in the arena, for their encouragement, methods and tools. But look to yourself in matters of decision-making.

2). Quit dreaming and thinking – instead act. Find a way to get into action, even if it’s part time. You cannot see what doors may open (like the doorway to my coaching) until you walk down the corridor. Get out of your own head and into action. You can always adapt on the fly. It may not seem comforting but no one ever figures it all out first. That’s a myth.

3). Carefully choose your sources of support. Advice from others, even from those who love you, needs to be taken with a grain of salt. They can’t see things from your perspective. They aren’t aware of your desires and strengths. No one else can intuitively understand what you know about yourself. For support, find a community of budding entrepreneurs who are feeling what you’re feeling.

4). Don’t let the search for the perfect pre-existing career slow you down. You may not find perfect, pre-existing, authentic work created by another. You may need to blend all of your special strengths, peculiarities and values together, to build your own empire.

My Takeaway

I totally agree with the importance of authenticity! I also like his advice on how to choose the supports and advice with care. The moral encouragement from friends and family is nice, but if they are not entrepreneurs themselves, do take it with a grain of salt. That kind of free advice can cost you a lot in terms of your time or missed opportunities. So thank them with grace, and find other entrepreneurs and real pros for advice.

Do You Know What I Do?

(Photo by tanja de Bie)

My fellow small business owners: How many people don’t know what you do?

Naomi Dunford of IttyBiz threw this question in her article Let’s Play A Game – What’s Your Home Business? because she found out not all her blog readers know what she does for a living. She says,

I got to thinking… how many of your readers don’t know about your IttyBiz? How many knew one time 8 months ago when they read your About page but have promptly forgotten? How many of them have room on their credit cards? How many of them know people who could use your products or services? How many of them would fall over their own feet to recommend you but don’t have a damn clue what you really do?

Hmm. If it can happen even to an A-list blogger like her, it can happen to me, I guess. This blog is still so young and I don’t always write about my services in blog posts. So I started writing my answers to her questions . . .

Do I know what I am doing? Do I at least know what I don’t know?

Writing I did. Definitely the worst writing I ever did. I slept over it, and finally admitted to myself: This is no good.

Not that I don’t know what I do. Not that I never thought about how to present my services to new people. Of course I know what I do and I’ve thought about marketing. It’s that the questions she presented for this writing project are the kind of pointed questions that digs deep into my marketing plan of my business. Like the USP (Unique Selling Proposition). Also, I have so much to say about my services (I love what I do, you know) that it’s hard for me to put it in short neat sentences.

So I did what I preach: I asked for help.

I call it Team Building in my e-workbook 7 Check Points For Aspiring Entrepreneurs. We don’t need to be everything and do everything. Seek the right help. It’s faster and easier to get things done. (By “Team” I mean everyone who can help an entrepreneur take her business off the ground and moving – CPA’s, attorneys, strategic partners, coaches, employees. . . and marketing specialists.)

So far, I have exchanged several emails with her and talked with her once. She is wonderful. Just bouncing ideas with her gets my creative juices flow. So here is my response to her “game” for now — I’m thinking of following up on this when she gets back to me with more great ideas.

And here is my update ^_^ now, three months after this writing, and two months after I started my second website Akashic Record Reading for my soul reading service, this soul reading service has grown faster than my coaching!! Naomi told us about fast growth in the interview she gave to Yes to Me — mine is not that killing bad, but it’s certainly surprising. So please take the following Q&A with the understanding that coaching is actually my side offering at this time. And if you think your situation takes something more than life coaching, go ahead and check out my soul reading service — my clients’ testimonials are proofs for how powerful this is!

What’s your game? What do you do?

I help people who is stuck and find it hard to get out of the rut. These are smart people who have high aspirations and know how to live better, but somehow can’t help doing things the old way. . . I just think it is such a shame that these good people try and try so hard without realizing a few critical points. As a professionally trained coach, I can often see what they are missing.

It’s one thing to have a generic understanding of how to live better – you can learn this by reading good self-help books and blogs. However, it’s quite another to implement the changes in your own life. I help my clients make their own action plans that are best for their own situations and personalities.

Logistically, I usually schedule one phone session per week. The length of time clients work with a coach varies, but typically two to six months.

Additionally, I will be offering soul reading and clearing soon. I’m very excited about this new service because I think it will give a new dimension of understanding to our life’s struggles.

Why do you do it? Do you love it, or do you just have one of those creepy knacks?

I love it. Also, I’d like to think I’m good at it. Just for fun, I recently took Gallup’s StrengthFinder test and the result confirms my talents to find the best qualities in people and help them utilize the strengths to the max.

Moreover, I’m very intuitive. I’ve always known this, and I’m glad I’ve found a way to train it systematically so that I can put it into practical use.

It’s like my whole life has been preparing me to do these services. I’ve re-invented myself and my life a few times. The major ones are when I came to this country and when I quit my nice corporate job. I know how to put ideas to action.

Who are your customers? What kind of people would need or want what you offer?

If you feel you can do so much better but somehow find it hard to actually do what you intend to do, talk to me. (That doesn’t make you a loser – real losers don’t have dreams nor goals. Or don’t see the benefits of getting assistance.)

This is where Naomi gave me an insight. In her email, she said my target clients were “anyone who read Oprah magazine.” What a brilliant way to put it! While I think men would also benefit from my services a great deal, it does describe my main client group.

I also work with aspiring entrepreneurs and new entrepreneurs. I guess people who take themselves serious enough to start their own businesses are open and willing to have coaches.

What’s your marketing USP (Unique Selling Proposition)? Why should I buy from you instead of the other losers?

This is the hardest question. For one thing, I don’t think other coaches are “losers” at all. I think if a business owner has to put down her competitors, she has a problem, not her competitors. I certainly would like to think of myself better than that. There are plenty of people who would benefit from having a coach, so all quality coaches can thrive.

However, I do understand the need to differentiate myself in the market. Again, this is a tough question because it’s hard to see myself in others’ eyes. So, until she gets back to me with more professional advise, here is my answer:

I can bring out the courage within you that you may not know you have. I’ve been through challenging times when my faith was pretty much all I could rely on. And I know how hard it is to take courage at face value especially for intelligent people – we tend to get analysis paralysis.

Also, when I say “faith” or when I talk about soul and spirituality, I am talking about open spirituality, not necessarily religious affiliations. So don’t worry about being recruited or lectured when you talk to me – I’m not that kind of a person. I guess this makes me uniquely attractive to certain clients.

Finally – well, not many coaches have cross-cultural perspectives, right? And not many know how to read soul records upon request. . .

What’s next for you? What’s the big plan?

As mentioned above, soul reading service is coming very soon. I’m creating a Squidoo lens for this. It is an optional service, but I think a lot of people who are interested in my coaching service would find it helpful.

Long term, I want to do inspirational speeches and publish books. Coaching is great for the clients because they get ongoing personal attention – I like it, too, and consider it as privilege. However, it does limit the number of people I can reach. By speaking publicly, I can reach out a lot more people.

If you have a small business, try this writing exercise. It’s very helpful to make sure you have an effective marketing plan, the kind of plan that helps people find you. And your readers get to know you better!

Coming up:

I interviewed Naomi for my Interview With Successful Entrepreneurs series. Will post it soon, so stay tuned! > It’s here.